Day 328/365 - Scrabbleccino

For a change I actually got to play Scrabble against a human being tonight instead of jousting with my PC/iPod/iPhone. Erin M and I met up at Peregrine, a locally-owned coffeehouse in the Eastern Market section of Washington, DC, for coffee, pastry, and a rousing game of Scrabble. Although it verged on being a bit chilly by the time the game wrapped up, we sat outside on the patio and enjoyed the 'false fall' weather. We both suspect that DC is due for at least one more bout of hot, muggy, and nasty weather before we move into real fall.

It was a well-played contest. She started out ahead, but I slowly chipped away at her lead and edged into the front and then just as I was starting to anticipate a victory, she stormed back to the fore with a brilliant jowly/curry combo that made double use of a "Y" on a triple letter score spot and ran through a double word score space to boot. There was just no coming back from that. She wound up winning 309-300.

Rematch!

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 91/365 - Delayed Gratification

Today the Christmas presents my sister ordered for me from my Amazon wish list arrived! This year's bundle of boodle consists of a 221B Baker Street mystery board game, a Tarzan movie boxed set (Tarzan the Ape Man/Tarzan and His Mate/Tarzan Escapes/Tarzan Finds a Son/Tarzan's Secret Treasure/Tarzan's New York Adventure), a Gene Kelly-Frank Sinatra movie boxed set (On the Town/Anchors Aweigh/Take Me Out to the Ballgame), a pair of John Wayne movies (The Horse Soldiers and Hellfighters), the last Speed Racer DVD I needed for the full set, and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Score!

I've been wanting that 221B Baker Street game ever since I was in high school and now I've got it. Man, I love getting packages. I'm forever ordering things from catalogs or websites. I think it would be great to be a UPS delivery guy. In my head it would be just like being Santa Claus everyday of the year. Not everyone enjoys seeing the mailman given that his daily delivery often consists largely of bills and junk mail, but who doesn't love getting a package? It seems like everyone would be happy to see you if you were a UPS guy. Plus you get to wear shorts to work. How awesome is that?

(Taken with my Nikon D80)

Day 73/365 - At the EagleBank Bowl

I'd never been to a college football bowl game before today. This morning, the Inaugural EagleBank Bowl was played at RFK Stadium in Washington, DC between Wake Forest and the U.S. Naval Academy. I bought my ticket for the game just as soon as Navy accepted the invitation to play.

I'd also never seen a football game at RFK and I hadn't been back to that stadium since the final home game of the Nationals' 2007 season. It hadn't changed much. As soon as you exited the Metro you still had to battle your way through the pushy hordes of ticket scalpers and hucksters selling knock-off hats and t-shirts that were crowding the sidewalk. That's definitely one thing I don't miss now that the Nats have moved to their new digs. The concession stands also ran out of hot dog buns at half-time, just like they always used to do during baseball games. That's another thing I don't miss.

The weather wasn't too bad at kick-off, but by half-time the temperature had dropped noticeably. The stadium was only about one-fourth full. There seemed to be fewer Wake Forest fans there, but they definitely went home happier than we Navy fans did. Navy lead 13-0 at one point, but the offense just never could get going all day and eventually the defense wore down and got picked apart by Wake Forest's passing game. The final score ended up being 29-19 in favor of Wake Forest.

Oh well, at least they beat Army this season. Go Navy!

(Taken with my Nikon D80)

Day 59/365 - Go Navy, Beat Army!

I took the train up to Philadelphia today to watch Navy's football team put a 34-0 whuppin' on Army in the 109th playing of the Army-Navy Game. This marks Navy's seventh straight victory over their arch-rival. I was actually worried that this might be the year Army took one from Navy. Army had been playing better this season and Navy had been up and down. I should've had more faith in the Midshipmen.

Unless you're a Navy fan like me, it probably wasn't a very interesting game given that Army never really even came that close to scoring. I thought it was great, though. The weather was cold but the end result made it all worth it.

Now if the Navy basketball team can just beat Virginia Tech tomorrow the weekend will be doubly awesome.

(Taken with my Nikon D80)